Constantine Richardson
"Constantine Richardson" is a mental construct borne of Bradley Richardson's paranoid schizophrenia. He appears in several of the Scorpio books. Description Constantine is an expression of Bradley's mind, so his raw body is almost identical to Bradley's. However, there are stark differences between the two's appearances. Constantine looks unwashed, with a grimy face, dirty and unwashed hair, long nails, and yellowed teeth. This likely represents the lack of self-care common among victims of depression. His skin isn't Caucasian like Bradley's, but rather extremely pale, almost light grey. Not only does this reflect his lack of blood and existence, but it also gives him a deathly appearance. His tongue is also grey. His eyes are the only colourful element of him, as they are lime green rather than emerald like Bradley's. They also shine in the dark, giving him a predatory, supernatural look when in shade. The rest of his overall colour palate is quite muted; there are no gold elements to his suit, and the green waistcoat is almost black given the darkness and dullness of its shade. Though he doesn't wear a mask, it can be assumed the lenses would be a darker and/or less vibrant shade of green, or even absent. He also doesn't wear a cloak, top hat, or gloves. His suit is torn and dirty, "as though he had broken free of his own coffin and decided to wear the same suit since." He has no copy of the Pandora, leaving his dull green bow tie uncovered. There is also a fresh-looking cut along his forehead, no doubt symbolising the damage done to Bradley's mind. Origin Constantine appeared to Bradley as a result of his schizophrenia, after the War of Brigstone. Over the years, Bradley's schizophrenia worsened to a point where Constantine evolved beyond being a hallucinatory voice and gained a visual form. Bradley theorised this was an effect of his PTSD making him hallucinate. Constantine took his name during New Blood, and revealed it in Scorpio 5. Background Scorpio Constantine makes his first appearance as a mere hallucinatory voice in Bradley's head, with no visual form yet taken. As Bradley prepares to go to the RRHQ, he says Bradley is being callous and selfish by having James accompany him through the case, as he is probably leading the young man to his doom. He continues to question Bradley's tactics throughout Scorpio, though otherwise carries little presence. When Bradley is stabbed by Bluebird's Son, Constantine appears and encourages Bradley to stand up to his enemy. Between Scorpio and Age of Evil It is implied in Age of Evil that Bradley didn't heard much of Constantine during his relationship with and marriage to Rebecca Adams. Much like the definite absence of nightmares, this could indicate Bradley's mental state being repaired due to Rebecca's love, compassion, and causal counselling. However, Bradley pours himself a glass of water the morning after he takes Rebecca's virginity, but in his drowsiness he drops the glass and it shatters on the ground of the bathroom. Constantine chides him for his mistake, calling him a "fucking retard". Before, Constantine made legitimate remarks about the flaws in Bradley's thinking, but in this instance he offers only a crude insult. Scorpio 2: Age of Evil Constantine returns in Age of Evil. In terms of plot, his role is once again minor, though he is more prevalent, providing a running commentary over Bradley's actions. Bradley also tries to work off him as a secondary source, meaning Bradley wants to capitalise on the resource Constantine could be. All the while, he bullies Bradley. Bradley's effort to make use of his madness actually works at one point, as Constantine inadvertently prompts Bradley toward a memory of a past fight against Bluebird, which provides insight into a part of his hunt for Ariel. When confronting Bluebird, Constantine once again briefly allies with Bradley, urging Bradley to murder his daughter's kidnapper and torturer. Afterwards, when Bradley thinks Ariel has been killed, Constantine appears far away, slumped against a broken wall and waving a white flag. Bradley takes this to show that Bluebird has ultimately won the day, with Ariel's death. In this moment, Constantine still looks just like Bradley. In regard to power, Constantine has clearly evolved. He is present more often, and Bradley sees him at one point. Scorpio 3: All Light Turns Dark In the first act, Bradley argues with Constantine, and during the altercation, Constantine again says that he is real and another person. Bradley brandishes a Psychology textbook in response and waves it at Constantine, saying that him reading the textbook shortly after the War of Brigstone, as well as several times after, has let him acknowledge that Constantine is no more than a personification of his own thoughts. He then throws the book at Constantine, who seemingly catches it. However, Bradley hears the book hit the floor in reality, and says that the psychological glitch is a sign that his madness is "sloppy" sometimes. After a debate with Rebecca, Constantine attempts to place doubt in Bradley's mind by insinuating Bradley's anger may drive Rebecca to seek love from another man. Much like his attempts to convince Bradley he is a separate entity, Bradley resists the idea, further demonstrating his absolute faith in his wife, even when taking into consideration his own actions and insanity. In terms of abilities, Constantine is now able to visualise multiple times within a room, and never appears as a simple hallucinatory voice. Bradley's ability to experience both visual and auditory hallucinations have now fully melded to give Constantine a physical form to fit his original sound-based nature. Scorpio 4: New Blood While Bradley travels though the Caves of Kor, Constantine is able to manifest on a greater scale, with many of him filling a chamber like a stadium at one point. Within another, one of his hands morphs into a pincer, with which he attempts to strangle Bradley. Once outside the Caves, however, Bradley notes that Constantine's abilities are limited to what they were in All Light Turns Dark. This is because, canonically, only a few days have passed since the events of the previous book. Constantine also decides that after twenty-six years of quasi-existence, he should have his own name beside "bastard", "little shit", and whatever else Bradley crudely throws at him in anger. The name is not revealed, but the reasoning behind it is said to be clever. Scorpio 5 Constantine embraces his individual identity, and finally declares his name to Bradley, as well as explaining the reasoning behind it - it is also Bradley's middle name, one he is ashamed of because of how posh it sounds. Bradley hides the name from people, as he does many things, a trait Constantine dislikes. Constantine himself is also one of those secrets, so taking the name is a way of further embracing who he is and rebelling against his psychological progenitor. Other than this revelation, his powers and role remain the same, even with the time gap between New Blood and Scorpio 5. Personality Being a hallucinatory voice appearing to a schizophrenic, Constantine presents himself as a separate person to Bradley, to the point of taking his own name. His personality is quite obviously different. While Bradley is shy, considerate, and compassionate to his allies, Constantine is boisterous, callous, and regularly insults the only person who can ever really know him. Constantine has no fear for his own personal safety, as anything he does to his environment will not matter to it, and any element of his environment will not matter to him. This implies an awareness of his own non-existence. This knowledge never dampens his spirits, however, as he is always ready to distract Bradley, usually through insulting him. The fact that he constantly bullies and goads Bradley into hating and harming himself, despite such actions potentially resulting in both their deaths, could imply that Constantine values his own existence as little as Bradley does his own. As he is ultimately a piece of Bradley's psyche, this would make a lot of sense. He possesses a sense of humour, playing into the poltergeist nature of his character, though it is rarely seen, as his primary purpose in the books and seemingly life is to insult and degrade Bradley. He also has a sense of righteousness, as evidenced by him debating Bradley's decision to bring James along in Scorpio. However, his insulting a depressed individual shows he only acts righteous in order to further hurt Bradley by guilt-tripping him. Constantine does, however, feel the same way about people as Bradley does, with the sole exception being his refusal to be attracted to Rebecca when she was a teenager, while Bradley - being lonely and finding solace in her presence - could feel himself being tempted. Ultimately, his personality and views appear to vary in accordance with Bradley's feelings, which makes sense as he is an element of Bradley's mind. Bradley, being depressed, often feels morose and self-hating, so Constantine acts accordingly. However, when he wanted to save Rebecca from Bluebird's Son, Constantine inspired him to do so. When presented with the presence of Bluebird, the two put aside their feud to agree that they hated the man and that he didn't deserve to live after everything he had done. Constantine's hatred of Bradley's feelings for Rebecca reflected Bradley's own self-disgust, and his acceptance of them shows Bradley realising that he need no longer feel guilty, and that he does deserve the happiness she brings him. He is also quite foul-mouthed and apparently pronounces certain words like a Londoner would, even though Bradley wasn't born or raised in the city, and has probably never even visited it. Abilities Since he doesn't technically exist, Constantine is exempt from the traditional laws of physics. He can walk on and through any surface, seemingly teleport, never be dealt physical damage unless by Bradley (and even then, whether any is done varies from encounter to encounter), and manipulate his environment through added hallucination (e.g. snapping his fingers to make the floor apparently catch fire). However, he is also tied to Bradley, specifically his mind. This means that if Bradley were to die, Constantine would logically "die" immediately. He is also unable to interact or communicate with any real people in a room, or manipulate his environment outside of further hallucination (such as a textbook he apparently catches being heard hitting the floor behind him). Weapons and Accessories Constantine wears a stripped-down Scorpio suit and all it would contain, such as Bradley's cane and a Claw Launcher. However, he has never been shown to use any of it, likely because he has no need to. He also possesses no copy of the Pandora. There is no clear explanation for this, since Constantine stems from Bradley's madness rather than the Pandora, thus there is no need for a visual difference in regard to it. Relationships Bradley Richardson Constantine's personality may have been influenced by Bradley's depression, as he thinks very little of his existential counterpart. He regularly insults Bradley, sometimes disproportionately (e.g. labeling him a "fucking retard" for dropping a glass while half-awake one morning), and critiques his decisions. He also harboured deep disgust for Bradley during the N3 Period upon realising that Bradley thought he might be developing feelings for Rebecca, who was not only his best friend, but also seventeen at the time and thus not a legal adult. This disgust caused Bradley to bury his feelings until the N4 Period, when they were reunited and both fell in love. Constantine also resents Bradley for being such a loner and very secretive. His mocking of the latter was why he even chose the name Constantine. However, he constantly tried to enforce that he was someone else, which was refuted by Bradley - an uncharacteristic response for a schizophrenic - because he had read Psychology textbooks and was aware that Constantine was really a manifestation of how he saw himself. Rebecca Adams Constantine holds respect for Rebecca, but no romantic love or sexual attraction. In fact, while Rebecca was a teenager and Bradley began to feel tempted due to how nice a person she was, coupled with her body's development and his own loneliness, Constantine was abhorred by Bradley's guilty attraction and bullied him especially for the thought of being with her. Bradley quickly lost the attraction, perhaps out of submission to the scorn from ultimately his own mind. However, he later regained it after her return from Lafita, and though Constantine again objected, it was not as fiercely because they were both adults, and he quickly gave up. Strangely, Constantine doesn't appear wary of Rebecca, despite the fact that her efforts to repair and perhaps restore Bradley's sanity would culminate in his being erased. His only objections to Bradley being with Rebecca were based off Bradley having feelings for a minor, or Bradley becoming aggressive and drifting further away from the vulnerable and compassionate man she fell in love with and married. This could be interpreted as the real Bradley, from whom he was created, valuing Rebecca's safety and happiness above his own life. Thus, Constantine ultimately must have held affection for her, despite his apparent indifference to Bradley's own emotions and desire to be seen as a separate entity. Bradley Richardson's other loved ones, acquaintances, and enemies Constantine shared the same overall opinion of everyone Bradley knew, though much like the colours of his body, the emotional aspects of the relationships were quite muted. For instance, he held no obvious affection for Ariel, his mental counterpart's biological child. However, he would not hesitate to exploit Bradley's own attachment to them to make Bradley doubt himself (e.g. saying Bradley was endangering James in Scorpio). He also despised the same people Bradley did, though with Bluebird it was with as much passion as Bradley, calling for Bluebird's death at every encounter. Notes * Being a fictional and individual being, he technically has no relatives. Due to this, this article's infobox doesn't refer to Bradley's relatives as being his too. * The potential-future Bradley seemed aware of Constantine's presence. The most likely explanation for this is that he remembered living such a significant moment as Bradley, and Constantine being present and talking during it. * Even in the Blue Era, he continued to appear in a Green Scorpio suit, likely to harken to his point of origin, or even the fact that Bradley felt mentally alone during that time the time, as he was falling into the throes of his madness and didn't have the constant reassurance of Rebecca's presence via their marriage to keep him anchored. * Constantine often smiles, a behaviour that isn't as common in Bradley due to his depression. * Constantine shares parallels with other hallucinated or partially-real characters. ** The idea of a green-haired male mental construct in an unkempt suit providing a running and often callous commentary through a brooding superhero's efforts to save the day is reminiscent of the Joker role's in Batman: Arkham Knight. ** His hair becoming a pale green is no doubt a nod to the character Beetlejuice/Betelgeuse, one of the oldest and most iconic partially-real characters. Constantine is also described as, and acts like, a poltergeist, a role Beetlejuice/Betelgeuse easily fits. * Constantine's treatment of Bradley is similar to how hallucinatory voices "treat" real-life schizophrenics. ** Constantine commentates over Bradley's life, like the majority of hallucinatory voices. ** Constantine also presents himself as being another person, like how schizophrenics believe the voices they hear aren't their own. *** Constantine's involvement in this belief is a playful exaggeration, given that he is arguably a character in his own right. * Over the books, Constantine becomes stronger, as Bradley becomes angrier and perhaps more insane. ** In Scorpio, he is present only as a voice that appears on occasion and alongside regular thoughts. ** In Scorpio 2: Age of Evil, he appears far more often and at one point visually manifests. ** In Scorpio 3: All Light Turns Dark, manifestation occurs several times and in more than one body. ** In Scorpio 4: New Blood, while Bradley travels through the Caves of Kor, a legion of him appear. ** In Scorpio 5, he takes the name Constantine, showing he has definitively formed his own identity. Quotes After Bradley drops a glass early in the morning: "What kind of fucking retard can't even pour himself A GLASS OF WATER?! Christ..." . and Constantine are arguing over the former's marriage to Rebecca Bradley: '''I’m… hoping. I’m hoping that she would stay with me. '''Constantine: Well, there I was, thinking you wanted only the best for her. . in the same argument Constantine: She feels loved, while you rot like unwanted fruit. Bradley: 'That’s your opinion. ''walks up to Bradley, putting his face uncomfortably close to Bradley's '''Constantine: No... points to Bradley's head Constantine:'' That’s ''your opinion. Gallery Category:Adults Category:Dark Defenders Category:Humans Category:Males Category:Non-corporeal beings